In this week’s UIEtips, we reprint an article. In it, I share ideas on how to hire the best UX professional. I also make the case that hiring the right person is the most important factor to a UX team’s success. Here’s an excerpt from the article: Hiring is not a natural process. It needs to be designed, just like any experience. In our research, we learned that most teams amble into the hiring process by copying actions from others or by inventing wacky steps. Read the article: Hiring a UX Pro – 4 Techniques from Smart Teams. How do you get the most out of your UX hiring process? Leave us a note...

Mark your calendar and join us November 20 in Toronto for UX Thursday. This one day event focuses on some very cool UX work that’s happening right in Toronto. Six top local speakers share their UX journey’s on real-world UX projects. You’ll also hear keynotes from Jared Spool talking about Building a Winning UX Strategy Using the Kano Model and Derek Featherstone of Simply Accessible covering accessibility. The whole day takes place at the YMCA of Greater Toronto on Grosvenor Street. Stay tuned for more information on the amazing speakers and presentations we’ve got in store for you. But you’ll want to save you seat early because at $99/seat, this conference will sell out. You can also check out this video of a past UX Thursday...

In this week’s UIEtips, we reprint an article from Jared Spool. In it, he shares ideas on getting low-cost iterations into your Agile development process. Jared also makes the case that UX-focused design is a team sport. If you’re looking for more on tying UX design and your Agile process together, then you’re going to want to join us on September 18, when Aviva Rosenstein presents our next virtual seminar, Making UX Work with Agile Scrum Teams. Here’s an excerpt from the article: It’s tempting to let those UX-focused design team members do this early work while the rest of the team goes off and does other activities. However, the biggest value from these early iterations comes from the discussions and insights that emerge. The most successful teams involve everyone who will influence the eventual design—including developers and stakeholders—in their design studios and paper prototyping activities. Read the article: Cost Effective Approaches to Iteration in Agile UX. What techniques are you using to reduce the costs of iteration for your team? Leave us a note...

In this week’s UIEtips, Jim Kalbach defines and discusses how to consistently create a UX strategy. Here he shares a tool with you for doing so at your organization—the UX Strategy Blueprint. If your strategy discussions feel more like political battles than progressive team-building, pay attention to Jim Kalbach. His virtual seminar on Thursday, August 28 is all about Defining a UX Design Strategy. Here’s an excerpt from the article: Analysis and planning, while necessary inputs and outputs in the strategy creation process, are not the core of strategy. You can’t analyze your way to strategy: the answers don’t magically emerge from data. And detailed roadmaps don’t provide the rationale for the activity they organize. Strategy does. It connects analysis and planning with an intentional logic that guides decision making. Read the article: UX Strategy Blueprint. Do you have a UX Strategy Blueprint to define your UX strategy? Leave us a note...

Sketching plays a vital role in UX design. It’s how we put a visual component to our ideas, communicate with others, and document our process. But how to organize and hold on to these sketches isn’t always as organized as we like. Below Nathan Curtis shares six tips on organizing sketched artifacts. Some are simple yet eye opening ideas. We realize how important it is to sketch and it’s one of the reasons that we’re giving every UI19 conference attendee a designer’s toolkit when they register for the conference by July 3. See what tools are in this kit to help you make great designs. Here’s an excerpt from the article: The more EightShapes sketches, however, the more we desire to retrieve and share those ideas later-to revisit abandoned, complex, or unrealistic notions of a better experience, to remind ourselves of passing ideas. We may find ourselves amid the next hour’s design studio summation. Or the day’s prototyping. Or the next week’s task scoping. Or the next quarter’s project proposal. But the sketch’s value extends beyond the initial presentation and discussion. Read the article: 6 Tips for Organizing Sketched Artifacts. How have you organized your archive of sketches? Leave us a note...

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About Me

Accomplished, self-reliant creative industry ninja for well over a decade, with a solid knowledge and insight to a wide range of web/UX and creative skills.
I have high expectations for the results of my labour. I am confident in my ability to produce, and while I prepare for the worst, I do the work necessary to tilt the odds so that the best will happen.
Lifelong design & media industry geek. Ardent traveller. Relentless optimist. Fanatical gamer.